ALABAMA TORNADOES -- OUR VIEW: Gov. Robert Bentley must assemble a task force that will offer a blueprint for building a greater, stronger Alabama after April's killer tornadoes

Gov. Robert Bentley is shown visiting Birmingham April 29 to see the damage from the tornado. H Bentley hugs Xavier Coleman, age 10, on his visit to Pratt City. ( Beverly Taylor/ The Birmingham News.)

In one short sentence in his Tuesday speech to the Legislature, Gov. Robert Bentley nailed the task that faces not only lawmakers, but every able-bodied Alabamian as communities across the state begin shifting from response to recovery after April 27's killer tornadoes.

"Now is the time to lead."

With those words, Bentley challenged all of us, from lawmakers to homemakers, from cabbies to corporate titans, from schoolchildren to the elderly, from electricians to editorial writers, to do our parts. Many of us already have in the days after massively powerful tornadoes tore through Alabama and other Southern states. The storms killed at least 236 people in Alabama -- about two-thirds of the deaths in the deadliest tornado outbreak since the Great Depression -- and leveled huge swaths of towns large and small.

The early response has been remarkable across the board: First-responders, emergency management officials, the Alabama National Guard, hospitals, churches, synagogues and other faith-based and charitable groups, utility workers, corporations and ordinary citizens all deserve much praise.

"I have never been more proud to be an Alabamian," Bentley said. "Since this tragedy, we have seen the true character of our state. Alabamians care about one another."

So far, Bentley has set a high standard for leading.

Even before the tornadoes hit, Bentley had declared a state of emergency for Alabama. On the evening of the 27th, as the extent of the damage began to be evident, the governor mobilized the Alabama National Guard. The next day, Bentley's office set up the Governor's Recovery Response Center and staffed it around the clock, and Bentley began traveling the state. He also asked President Barack Obama to visit Alabama to view the destruction, which Obama did on April 29.

In the days since the storms, Bentley has been all over the state to view the devastation, and he also has played the role of consoler, listening to survivors' stories and trying to help them with their anguish. He has visited Children's Hospital. He has held conference calls with local officials. He has met with insurance industry executives. He has created the Governor's Emergency Relief Fund to fill in the gaps after storm survivors have exhausted other avenues of relief.

In short, the governor is leading, and now is the time to do it. His example should challenge all of us to do as much as we're able, physically, financially, spiritually.

The real test of our character as a state will come in the weeks, months and even years ahead, for recovery will be a monumental, lengthy task.

Now, everyone is still concentrating on meeting immediate, basic needs for the displaced: clothing, food, water, temporary shelter and the like, and still trying to account for the missing. Debris removal already has begun, and soon will take center stage. Bentley has committed the state to paying local governments' share of the costs for 30 days.

But after all the detritus from homes and businesses, the trees and the pieces of people's shattered lives have been picked up, then what? How will we rebuild to become, as Bentley put it, "a greater, stronger Alabama"?

It's almost fashionable these days to call for a task force in the wake of a disaster, either manmade or national. Yet, the work of the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama after the BP oil spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico last April shows the value in doing so. The commission created a useful "roadmap to resiliency" for the coastal counties and state to follow in recovering from the economic, environmental and public health damage.

Bentley should assemble a similar commission that over the next several months will form tornado recovery plans for the affected communities and state.

Going forward, there are many questions the commission should try to answer, some of them before it issues its final recommendations. Here are some areas we'd like to see a commission investigate:

-- Thousands of people have been displaced, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with state and local governments to find long-term housing. Will those needs be adequately met, especially for those people without means?

-- The commission should examine the current severe weather warning system and whether it can be improved. How well-coordinated were first-responders as they rushed to devastated areas? Was there enough manpower? Resources? Were hospitals prepared to handle the thousands of wounded?

-- Should tornado-prone areas, especially in neighborhoods with poor housing stock, have some sort of safe-haven community shelters built for people to go to as storms approach? Can public buildings, such as city halls, libraries and fire stations, provide safety?

-- Do building codes need to be rewritten to ensure homes and buildings meet certain standards that would make them better withstand fierce tornadoes?

-- Will insurers live up to their commitments? (This was a problem with some insurance companies post-Katrina, which tried to drop people from coverage because of the disaster.) For people who are under- or uninsured, what federal or state dollars are available to help them rebuild?

-- How should storm-damaged areas be rebuilt? For many communities, the devastation is so complete they are starting over. What kind of thoughtful, innovative designs can they employ?

-- Especially in hard-hit small towns such as Hackleburg and Phil Campbell, where business districts were obliterated, how can local, state and federal governments help communities' economic recovery? Are there storm-specific tax incentives or other policies the Legislature needs to approve? And what must be done beyond poststorm cleanup and construction to keep people working?

-- Are there enough resources to deal with mental health issues that will plague many residents, particularly in smaller towns?

A tornado recovery commission can offer a silver lining to the deadly storm clouds that hammered Alabama on April 27. It can build a blueprint for leadership, for elected officials and the rest of us, in putting ravaged communities back together. It can show the way to "a greater, stronger Alabama."